Brown and White Vol. 87 no. 3

              p bethlehem pa tuesday september 16 1975 mmmmrnmrnm 215-866-0331 vol 87 — no 3 lehigh university brown and white minority recruiter hired by admissions office by ken bandler the admissions office hired in july cheryl sessoms a graduate student to aid in the recruitment of minority students sessoms interviews candidates for admission and will recruit at high schools during the year because she is a graduate student in business administration she only works half-time but nathan harris assistant dean of students and samuel missimer director of admissions said they hope her work will help to increase the number of minority students at the university missimer said we will be disappointed if it does not work sessoms post was created according to harris to help him in his admissions office work because his duties in the dean of students office have increased harris said the total number of black students on campus has gone up to 67 from last year's 65 however the number of freshman this year is 17 compared to 21 last year harris said sessoms said a possible reason for the presence of so few blacks at the university is that lehigh is not known very well among minority students according to sessoms black enrollment has remained at about 60 for the last four years she said she has no specific plans for changing that situation and added the university will just wait and see about an increase in black enrollment sessoms was very involved with last summer's minorities introduction to engineering mite program it mite gives many students a chance to look at engineering not so much to look at lehigh she said she added that as the students become more aware of engineering they become aware of lehigh as an engineering possibility harris said that the continuous badgering of the black enrollment issue had gotten to the point where it was like beating a dead horse during the five years he has been at the university there has been some in crease in black enrollment harris said however it annoys him he said that each cheryl sessoms three sororities not recognized but recruiting by marsha marson three sororities finished their first stage of rushing last week although they have not been officially recognized by the university sharon drager assistant dean of students said the three sororities alpha gamma delta alpha phi and gamma phi beta were selected by the women on campus last spring drager said the sorority groups must first seek recognition as a student group as would any club she added that recognition involves a group submitting its statement of purpose and its by-laws before these school groups can begin the recognition process as a national sorority the university wants to be heavily in volved in the process of selecting nationals drager said she added that the administration will take a look at the sororities presently represented at the university and see how they are functioning on comparable campuses according to drager the things that the university will be looking for in a national sorority are its financial stability ability to give assistance and support expansion policy and discrimination policies drager stated that the guidelines for rush are exactly the same for each sorority the rush program consists of informal parties held last wednesday evening followed by chat sessions the next day preference parties which are by invitation only were held friday evening bid matching a process in which an in dividual's choice of a sorority is tried to be matched to the sorority's bid list was held friday night saturday the bids were picked up and pledging ceremonies took place according to drager people who wish to be a charter member of a sorority are getting into some work she added that one must be ready to make a commitment presently there are eight pledges of alpha gamma delta 15 pledges of alpha phi and 20 pledges of gamma phi beta affirmative action report under review by liss by linda bondemore the first draft of an affirmative action report is presently under a further level of analysis said lora liss affirmative action officer liss declined to release the draft according to liss new guidelines received from the federal government over the summer resulted in the redrafting of the report within the affirmative action steering committee all we're doing is fitting the guidelines to our institution she said i am concentrating on getting the heart of the plan done which is the work force analysis said liss the university must compare the work force as it exists at the present with the availability pools thus arriving at the level of under-utilization she explained the next step is to set goals for each department she continued ad ding getting the deans and vice presidents to establish those goals is what i've been doing all summer the university has made more resources available to me to find what further data we need said liss this is primarily in the form of additional per sonnel she added according to liss the university has received approval of a federally funded administrative assistant through the lehigh valley manpower program lvmp the candidate will be chosen by liss under lvmp requirements the u.s office of civil rights must approve the university af firmative action plan in addition to governmental acceptance the plan must also meet with university approval liss said there are certain problems inherent in a university such as lehigh she added because lehigh was an all-male school for so many years male dominant attitudes are deeply ingrained and valued liss said also the prestige surrounding the university makes change harder she said because affirmative action is sometimes viewed as weakening existing standards a prestigious in stitution is a more difficult institution to change because it believes it exists within its own system of merit she added drager says gryphons to counsel pot smokers byjohnmahoney reports that there will be mandatory reporting by gryphons of all marijuana smoking students in university dor mitories have been denied by assistant dean of students sharon drager drager said no such instructions have been given to the gryphons she said if a gryphon knows of a student smoking marijuana in a dormitory he should counsel the student the counseling drager said would include informing the student that marijuana smoking is prohibited in residence halls a student would be referred to a discipline committee drager said only as a last resort she noted if they students persist in drug use we expect them the gryphons to report this the university handbook's statement on drugs an informative and extensive explanation of philosophy and policy ends with the statement in general students are penalized only if they fail to give respect and consideration to others hinder the mission of the university or take undue advantage of the unique en vironment which is associated with this institution last week gryphon society president gary liddick said some gryphons he knew last year asked students not to smoke marijuana only if their smoking interfered with other students's rights liddick . also made statements in a brown and white interview last semester indicating students would generally be asked to refrain from smoking marijuana only if their smoking infringed on the rights of other students liddick said this year instructions given to gryphons are more explicit in that gryphons are now to counsel the marijuana-smoking student he stressed the gryphon's role will be one of counselor and not disciplinarian he said if a student is known to be smoking marijuana his or her gryphon would have to do something about it he noted what that something is necessarily varies from one situation to another blatant or apparent use of marijuana in dormitories would necessitate some unspecified action from the gryphons liddick said drager said official policy regarding marijuana has not changed since previous years however when asked if the guiding philosophy now conveyed to gryphons concerning marijuana use emphasized preventing non-smoking student's rights from being infringed upon she replied no explaining marijuana is prohibited .__>*-*■»» r nuiu uy ownuuill autumn calm it still isn't too late in the year for many students to enjoy the remaining open spaces on campus see grad students page 7 see gryphons page 6 inside ; i campus jobs p 5 less business frosh p 6 skateboarders beware p 8 a clctee game p 12